Category Archives: Currituck
Climate Change Must Be Addressed in Bridge Studies
New climate change guidelines make for better decision-making
Today the Obama Administration released guidelines on how federal agencies should consider climate change when assessing proposed projects.
The guidelines, which apply to all federal projects reviewed under the National Environmental Policy Act, will impact decisions involving everything from transportation projects to power plants, pipelines, and oil drilling. Until now federal agencies have been inconsistent in how they considered climate change in project reviews, often ignoring it completely.
When reviewing any new project, the agencies must consider both the direct and indirect impacts of greenhouse gas emissions. For a proposed new highway, for example, federal agencies will need to consider the greenhouse gas impacts of building the highway, as well as the emissions that would result from additional sprawl or traffic. Perhaps most significantly in informing decision-making, agencies are now required to quantify and compare the climate changing effect of different alternatives, allowing the public an easy way to see which alternatives will have the least impact.
“This guidance will allow us to better tackle the challenges of climate change,” said Kym Hunter, attorney in SELC’s Chapel Hill office. “But it also provides greater transparency and more information to help make decisions about where our limited federal dollars are spent. These guidelines give all taxpayers a better accounting of the impacts and costs of federal projects.”
SELC has commented on the adminstration’s draft guidelines multiple times as they have been in development the past eight years, particularly asking for a greater focus on transportation. In the Southeast, transportation is now the leading contributor to climate change-causing pollution.
In addition to transportation, the guidelines have significant implications for coastal spending and development. The guidance specifically refers to transportation projects on coastal barrier islands, such as proposed bridges in the Outer Banks, and directs agencies to consider the consequences of rebuilding with sea level rise and more intense storms. It also discusses how chemical facilities near the coast could have increased risk of spills or leakages, putting local communities at risk.
While draft versions of the guidelines had set a greenhouse gas emissions threshold to trigger consideration—something SELC urged against—the final version removed that and now requires climate change analysis for all projects.
“We know Southeastern coastal communities are particularly vulnerable to sea level rise, so this is a huge step forward for better decision making in our region,” said Hunter. “Just asking the question of how each project will affect and be affected by climate change could lead to better decisions about transportation, coastal development, and energy production.”
Presentation Given by the SELC June 1, 2016
TROUBLE FOR NCTA PROJECT
Permit delay dogs Monroe bypass
Still under review, last permit holds up bond sale and construction.
By Adam Bell
abell@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011
Two months after the state had expected to start construction on the $950 million Monroe Connector-Bypass, the road remains in limbo because it lacks one final environmental permit.
Without that permit from the Army Corps of Engineers, the state also cannot sell bonds for financing the project or formally award the contract to design and build the road. The long-awaited, 19.7-mile road in Union County would be the Charlotte area’s first modern toll road and is designed to ease congestion on U.S. 74.
The state insists there are no problems with the permit application.
Such permits are needed for projects that would impact wetlands, streams and ponds, said Liz Hair, project manager for the corps field office in Asheville. She said the state’s request, which the office received Sept. 21, is still being reviewed.
There is no set time to issue a decision.
North Carolina still expects to be awarded the permit at any time, said N.C. Department of Transportation spokeswoman Greer Beaty, but she did not have any information on when that might happen.
Beaty said she did not know whether the delay would affect the 2014 scheduled opening of the road or the sale of remaining bonds. The state sold about a third of the $808 million in bonds needed to help finance the work last October, but still must sell another $500 million worth of bonds.
Last fall, N.C. Turnpike Authority officials said they expected construction to start in December once all the permits were secured. In late December they said they anticipated getting the final corps permit “shortly.”
The connector-bypass officially starts along U.S. 74 near Interstate 485 and the Mecklenburg County line. It would go briefly east and then roughly parallel U.S. 74 until it reconnects with that highway just west of Marshville.
The road is projected to cut travel time by 17 minutes, as drivers avoid some two dozen traffic lights along U.S. 74, which is a heavy commuter route for people in Mecklenburg and Union counties and one of the few N.C. roads that runs from the beach to the mountains.
Car drivers could pay an average of $2.58 to $3.95 for the entire trip, depending on whether they have a prepaid transponder used in toll collections.
Also this week, environmental groups trying to stop the project challenged a state water-quality permit issued for the connector-bypass.
They claimed the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources did not fully assess the water-quality impact of building the road through the Yadkin River watershed before issuing the permit.
Chandra Taylor, a lawyer with the Southern Environmental Law Center representing the groups fighting the project, said if the corps permit is approved, her clients have the option of seeking an injunction to block the bond sales.
Adam Bell: 704-358-5696
Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/02/24/2086439/permit-delay-dogs-monroe-bypass.html#disqus_thread#ixzz1EzVD0czA